Memories of the Bellerive Fort and Bellerive Bluff

A few days ago, I added a new post to this blog about the Bellerive Fort on the Kangaroo Bluff Historic Reserve. In response, friend Ma tells me she loves the Fort. “I played there as a child when I visited Mattie and Connie, Dad’s cousins in the Queen Anne house opposite the entrance to the Fort. My grand-kids have also made a few movies there with me.”

An earlier email from Ma told me: “Well I have wasted or not wasted four days searching family history re Kangaroo Bluff. There are streets (including Buchanan Street) named after family members such as my Pa and Grandmas’ families and my fathers’ aunt. The cousins built at least 3 if not 4 mansions on that Bluff, including Bluff House and Wyvenhoe (29 Queen St) both of which I visited as a kid. They only passed out of the family in the late 60s or early 70s. And my grandfather, for some years, ran the pub where it is now plus another one that has been demolished, and the Rokeby Inn, a heritage building which was destroyed in the 1967 bushfires. I always thought I should buy a house in Buchanan St but felt that was a bit much even for me!!!”